DND issues jet warning to avoid repeat of Redblacks fly-by freak-out

le 23 août 2016.

Football fans, nearby residents complained last year's fly-by took them by surprise

A CF-18 Hornet like this one will fly over TD Place on Aug. 25, 2016, to mark the annual Ottawa Redblacks appreciation game for the Canadian Armed Forces. (Staff Sgt. Perry Aston/HO-U.S. Air Force/Canadian Press)

CBC News

If you're going to this Thursday's Ottawa Redblacks game — or simply live near TD Place — don't let that evening's scheduled fighter jet fly-by freak you out..

At around 7:30 p.m., a CF-18 Hornet will roar over the stadium to mark the Canadian Armed Forces appreciation game, the Department of National Defence said in a statement Tuesday.

Both the Royal Canadian Air Force and the Ottawa Redblacks' ownership group issued apologies following last year's fly-by, after some rattled residents in the Glebe and Old Ottawa South — along with some startled football fans — complained they weren't properly notified and didn't know what was happening.

This year, the fighter jet will fly over TD Place "at an altitude no lower than 500 feet above the highest point of its route," the department said.

Once it's passed by, the jet will return to higher altitudes and return to base at 3 Wing in Bagotville, Que.

The Redblacks will be taking on the B.C. Lions, who are in second place in the CFL's West Division, on Thursday night.